A limited constitutional government calls for a rules-based, freemarket monetary system, not the topsy-turvy fiat dollar that now exists under central banking. This issue of the Cato Journal examines the case for alternatives to central banking and the reforms needed to move toward free-market money.

The more widespread use of body cameras will make it easier for the American public to better understand how police officers do their jobs and under what circumstances they feel that it is necessary to resort to deadly force.

Americans are finally enjoying an improving economy after years of recession and slow growth. The unemployment rate is dropping, the economy is expanding, and public confidence is rising. Surely our economic crisis is behind us. Or is it? In Going for Broke: Deficits, Debt, and the Entitlement Crisis, Cato scholar Michael D. Tanner examines the growing national debt and its dire implications for our future and explains why a looming financial meltdown may be far worse than anyone expects.

The Cato Institute has released its 2014 Annual Report, which documents a dynamic year of growth and productivity. “Libertarianism is not just a framework for utopia,” Cato’s David Boaz writes in his book, The Libertarian Mind. “It is the indispensable framework for the future.” And as the new report demonstrates, the Cato Institute, thanks largely to the generosity of our Sponsors, is leading the charge to apply this framework across the policy spectrum.

Rich and Successful Flee France

According to Hallyday, “Like many people in France, I have had enough of paying these ridiculous taxes we are forced today. That’s it, I’ve made my decision.”

French politicians are reported to be shocked. Jean-François Copé, the Budget Minister, has even said that “Johnny Hallyday was not carrying out his patriotic duty of paying his taxes to his own country.” It appears that no prominent politician in France has even considered the possibility that Hallyday may be right to want to keep more of the money he has earned!

Of course this is not the first time that a French celebrity has opted to live in a country with lower income tax. Some years ago, Laetitia Casta, a French supermodel, got upset over high taxes in her home country and left for London.

There she joined tens of thousands of her compatriots, who find the French taxes too burdensome and job opportunities too scarce. Casta’s flight would have been unremarkable had it not been for the fact that she was cast as the model for the bust of Marianne, symbol of the French Republic, an honor formerly held by Bridgitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve.

The above stories personify the conflict between the image of France purveyed by the governing elite and the reality. On the one hand, France is portrayed as a strong and confident country, whose people, unlike the Americans, are committed to “social solidarity.” On the other hand, there is the reality of high taxes, high unemployment, uncertainty, and a general feeling of malaise. As more of the young, educated, and successful French move abroad, the welfare state will grow more unsustainable.

The question is, do Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal recognize the need for deep reforms, or will the victor of this year’s presidential elections turn out to be the younger version of Jacques Chirac?